We booked a week off in August to do a little staycation/babymoon. We had a couple of Bluebook vouchers from the wedding so decided to put them to good use. We started off with two very different places in Wexford before moving across to Limerick.

Monart

An amazing birthday present from Sean was two nights in Monart in Wexford. I had heard a lot about it, but had never been before so was very much looking forward to relaxing. We arrived on the Bank Holiday Monday and I was super excited to be in a robe for two days. The grounds of the hotel are stunning to stroll around.

Food: After we checked in, we went for Afternoon Tea which was nice to have in the old part of the house. On our first night we had a burger and chips outside which was quite nice with a few (non-alcoholic) cocktails. On the second night we had food in the restaurant which was great – and each course was better than the last. I had the beef as a main which was delicious and a chocolate orange cake for dessert that was unbelievable.

Spa: The spa is out of this world and being 6 months pregnant, there wasn’t much I could do, but had a brilliant time chilling out and getting a lot of sleep in the relaxation room. We had a massage booked in for the Tuesday, I had a 60 mins pregnancy massage, so they have to be a little bit lighter and judging by how nice my massage was, I can imagine a normal one is unreal. I also had the most relaxing facial ever!

Local Area: When we checked out, we went to visit the 1798 memorial centre which was nice to find out about the local history. We then decided to grab some food and I found an amazing little cafe in Enniscorthy called the Cotton Tree Cafe. I got an open ham and cheese sandwich and a hot chocolate (buttons with boiling milk poured over them!)

Dunbrody House

Hotel: The hotel is a beautiful old country house outside NewRoss in Co. Wexford. We booked in for one night her (Wednesday night) and as it was quiet, we got our room upgraded. The rooms are very old fashioned and could do with being a little bit more modern. The bar downstairs is lovely, but exceptionally expensive – a Jameson Black Barrel is 17e (normally around 8.50e) and the non-alcoholic cocktails are 12e for what is essentially just juice. Unfortunately, The Local was closed on our night there but I’ve heard really great reviews of this little Irish pub on the grounds.

Food: The food, as expected is exceptional as Kevin Dundon is the chef (and owner). We settled in for an early dinner and got the Dunbrody Double Joint, which every table seemed to have. The dessert was a deconstructed jaffa cake that sounded very poncey but was hands down the best dessert I’ve ever had. We both got pancakes for breakfast which were lovely and super fluffy.

Local Area: We visited Tinturn Abbey before we got to Dunbrody House and it was free entry as it was a Wednesday. It was lovely to be able to walk through the abbey and walk up a couple of floors. Its a nice little stop if you’re in the area.

No 1 Pery Square

Our next visit was to No 1. Pery Square in Limerick which looked like a really cool chic hotel. I had never heard of it before, but was very much looking forward to our stay. Again, we got upgraded to one of the four rooms in the original part of the house. We didn’t stay here for food but we did have a few drinks in the bar which is lovely.

Local Area: We had been to Limerick a few times, but this was the first time it wasn’t for rugby or tag rugby. After walking around for a little while, we stopped off for a quick bit of food in the Red Hen. We decided to pop into a couple of different bars around the city, my favourite was the White House, which looked like an old man pub but had some great whiskeys behind the bar and had been done up in recent years. After two nights having some fancy dinner we decided to stop off in a small local restaurant for some quick and easy food, we found that in La Cucina in the city. The next morning we went to King Johns Castle but unfortunately didn’t have enough time to fully look around the castle, from what we did see it has a brilliant recap of Irish history. On our next visit, its somewhere we will be spending a lot more time there. I had an hour to myself in Limerick, so went into Bakehouse 22 for a quick bite to eat and a coffee – this is a very cute bakery and would highly recommend a visit if anyone is in the area.